The invention relates to a damping device for pieces of furniture which are coupled with hinges and can be pivoted relative to each other, especially door leaves or folds which are mounted on the body of the piece of furniture. The damping device includes a damping housing that can be secured to one of the pieces of furniture and has a cavity containing a damping fluid and a resistance element which is displaceable relative to the damping fluid. The resistance element is coupled with an actuating element extending to the outside of the housing, and the actuating element is drivingly connected to the second piece of furniture during at least a portion of the relative pivoting motion of the two pieces of furniture and transfers the motion received from the second piece of furniture to the resistance element.
Damping devices on door leaves are used to eliminate or at least significantly reduce the stress and noise produced during when the cabinet doors are closed rapidly and/or forcefully, and by the impact-like brake action when the door leaf strikes the body. Damping devices of this type that operate with a gaseous medium, such as ambient air or viscous liquids, for example silicone oil, as a damping medium are known in the art. One of these conventional damping devices (DE 195 22 254 A1) is constructed so that the damping effect is produced by compressing the air contained in a cylindrical housing with a piston that is movably arranged in the housing, and by blowing the air out by a throttle action. The piston rod of the piston extends from the cabinet body when the door leaf is open, so that the door leaf during the closing operation contacts the free end of the piston rod and is then braked. In another conventional damping device (AT 004 213 U1), an elongated moveable rod that projects from the cabinet body is provided with teeth which engage via a pinion with a rotary damper which operates, for example, with silicone oil as a damping medium. When used in furniture construction, these damping devices are attached separately to the cabinet body in such a way that the rods or the piston rod that cushion the impact of the door leaf act on the interior region of the door leaf that faces the hinges. As a result, the damping devices are visible when the door leaf is open and the protruding portions of the actuating elements, i.e. of the piston rod or the other rods, extend to the outside of the cabinet body, making it dangerous to place items inside the cabinet or remove items from the cabinet, for example garments, since these items can catch on the portions of the actuating element protruding from the body of the piece of furniture and be damaged. In addition, there is also the risk that people can be injured.